Since 1969, when the mammography machine was introduced, women have been getting annual mammograms to help prevent the second leading cause of death for women in the United States, breast cancer.

     For years, it has been the recommendation by many doctors and other various health specialists for women to get an annual mammogram past the age of 40 to help check and prevent breast cancer. This practice has been said to prevent the deaths of over 15 million women nationwide in the past 10 years.

     These statistics seem to speak for themselves and show how 15 minutes out of your life can help to save your life, but new studies to be presented to the American Roentgen Ray Society may recommend that it is only necessary to get this test every other year, instead of every year.  

     “The benefit in 40- to 49-year-old women is pretty small," said Dr. Virginia Moyer, who resides on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force about annual mammograms. "There is a real, but rather modest benefit. There are also risks, and they are greater in younger women than older women."

     The study basically says that women between the age of 40 and 49, who were previously advised to receive annual mammograms, will be fine getting one every two years, while women 50+ should remain to receive them yearly. The reason is that younger women generally has more dense breasts, therefore they receive more false positives and the test is useless and a waste of money.  

     "I haven't met many patients who don't appreciate us being thorough to trying to find the cancers at an early stage," Dr. Donna Plecha, division chief of mammography at University Hospitals at Case Medical Center in Ohio said. "I would still recommend screening mammograms starting at age of 40, because cancers caught earlier would be more curable. The data that we have suggests that 1 in a thousand will benefit from mammograms in the 40-49 ages," she said. "There are whole lots of assumptions that are not supported by the data they presented.”

     Other studies to be presented to the American Roentgen Ray Society include one by the National Cancer Institute. The NCI is beginning to recommend that starting at the age of 15, young girls get one every 5 years.

     The goal is to not only check for tumors, but also to monitor the growth and to help both patients and doctors to realize who is at a greater risk when they get older.

     “I support anything that the health department or insurance companies support. It is important to take preventative measures,” said Jacquelyn Williams, the health teacher at NHHS.